Citation
Worp, K. A. (2011). Female professionals in the Hellenistic World. In Palabras Bien Dichas: Estudios Filológicos dedicados al Padre Pius Ramon Tragan (pp. 78-87). Barcelona 2011: Abbadia de Montserrat. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/19544
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klaas a. worp
papyrological institute, leiden university
To Padre Pius-Ramon Tragan as a small antidoron for his kind services rendered over a number of years.
May many more years in good health be granted to him!
In his recent study Die berufliche Spezialisierung in Handel und Handwerk. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Entwicklung und zu ihrer Be- dingungen in der römischen Kaiserzeit im östlichen Mittelmeerraum auf der Grundlage griechischer Inschriften und Papyri (Rahden 2008 = Pharos: Studien zur griechisch-römischen Antike, vol. 24 [in two parts, I: viii, 1-394, II: 395-914]), Kai Ruffing presents in its second part a useful catalogue of professions in the sphere of com- merce and craftsmanship found in inscriptions and papyri. Ruffing lists the following terms for such professional activities performed by women:
Page Greek term English Translation (mostly given or suggested by LSJ)
400 ἀκέστρια Seamstress
402 ἀλέτισσα / ἀλετρίς Female person grinding corn 415 ἁλόπωλις Female seller of salt
417 ἀλφιτόπωλις Female seller of flour 421 ἀνθυλοπράτισσα Female seller of flowers 428 ἀρτοκόπισσα Female baker
440 ἀρτόπωλις Female seller of bread 446 ἀσπροπώλισσα Female seller of incense
453 βάφισσα Female dyer
470 γερδία / γερδίαινα Female weaver 492 γνάφισσα Female fuller
Page Greek term English Translation (mostly given or suggested by LSJ)
502 γρυτοπώλισσα Female seller of small wares 513 ἐλαιόπωλις Female seller of oil
532 ζυτόπωλις Female seller of beer 538 ἠπήτρια Female tailor
548 ἱματιόπωλις Female seller of clothes 557 καθαροπώλισσα Female seller of bread 567 καπηλίς Female tavern-keeper
600 κονδιτάρια Female producer / seller of aromatic 603 κουρίς wineFemale hairdresser
613 κυαμοπώλισσα Female seller of beans 628 λαχανόπωλις Female seller of vegetables 636 λιβανωτόπωλις Female seller of incense 649 μαγίρισσα Female cook
660 μελιτόπωλις Female producer / seller of honey 671 μυρόπωλις Female seller of perfume
679 ξυλόπωλις Female seller of wood 710 παντόπωλις Female huckster
723 πλύντρια Washerwoman
726 πορφυρόπωλις Female producer / seller of purple-dyed 729 προπινάρια woolFemale cook
734 ῥαφίδεια Female stitcher / embroiderer 741 σησαμόπωλις Female seller of sesame 758 στεφανόπωλις Female seller of garlands 763 στυππειόπωλις Female seller of hemp 770 ταριχοπράτισσα Female seller of pickles
774 ταρσικάρισσα Female producer of ‘Tarsian’ textile (only in P.Coll.Youtie II 95.7, but read- ing incorrect1)
792 τέχνιτις Female slave / crafts-woman
1I am grateful to A. Delattre (Brussels) who checked the reading on the original papy- rus (kept in the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Brussels; a photo is available at http://dgtl.kbr.be:8881//exlibris/dtl/d3_1/apache_media/33036.pdf, scrolling on to Cat.
# 1) and found it incorrect. Vid. his note forthcoming in Tyche.
Page Greek term English Translation (mostly given or suggested by LSJ)
801 τριμιτάρια Female producer / seller of trimitoi (=
garment of drill or ticking) 803 τυρόπωλις Female seller of cheese
808 ὑφάντρα Female weaver
835 χρυσώτρια Female gilder
For several reasons it would go too far to assume that this list offers a complete collection of all professional activities of women in the Eastern Mediterranean world. First of all, Ruffing’s title with its explicit reference to «Handel und Handwerk» (= «commerce and craftsmanship») contains an important restriction: he does not list the professional or occupational activities of women outside these two spheres.2Moreover, it may happen that a profession of a female person attested in (semi-)literary sources does not also occur in docu- mentary sources like inscriptions and/or papyri.3Furthermore, there are masculine terms for professions that can be attributed to women simply by converting the article ὁ [term] into ἡ [term]. Ruffing him- self lists some non-Egyptian examples of this practice,4 while H.J.
Drexhage already mentioned5several other similar Greek terms for women in an occupational or professional capacity, in particular of women working as an ἐλαιουργός (= ‘manufacturer of oil’, in BGU
2E.g. of women working in the ‘service’ sector, like teachers, doctors, or wet nurses, or active in some form of religious function, like female priests. Remarkably enough, according to the ‘Inhaltsverzeichnis’ of his work (vol. I pp. III-V) Ruffing does not present a special discussion of the economic role of female professionals in the fields of commerce and craftsmanship.
3Cf., e.g. LSJ s.v. σκυτεύτρια = ‘female cobbler’, conjectured in Hesychius (ed. P.A.
Hansen,), Π 2033 s.v. πεσσύπτη. In general, see H. J. Drexhage, «Vorläufige Liste der bislang ausschliesslich literarisch belegten Berufs- bzw. Tätigkeitsbezeichnungen», Münsterische Beiträge zur antiken Handelsgeschichte 23 (2004) 41-65, No. 1.
4Vid. part II, 505 s.v. δικτυοπλόκος = ‘weaver of nets’, 530 s.v. ζυτοποιός = ‘brew- er’ (see in particular p. 531, fn. 8, for BGU VI 1244), 755 s.v. σκυτοτόμος = ‘leather- worker’, 758 s.v. στεφανηπλόκος = ‘plaiter of wreaths’) and 767 s.v. ταλασιουργός
= ‘wool-spinner’.
5In his article «Feminine Berufsbezeichnungen im hellenistischen Ägypten», Münster- ische Beiträge zur antiken Handelsgeschichte 11.1 (1992) 70-79, esp. 72.
III 892 + BL 1:78), an ἰβιοβοσκός (= ‘keeper of the sacred ibis’, in O.Tait I 124), and ἰσιονόμος (= ‘warden of the temple of Isis’, in P.Enteux. 6) and as ναύκληροι (= ‘ship owners’; for various sourc- es and discussions, cf. Drexhage, «Feminine Berufsbezeichnungen», fn. 5). Besides, Drexhage also mentioned in this article other «mas- culine professions turned female», e.g. a female θησαυροφύλαξ (= ‘treasurer’, in P.Mich. V 226.15-16), a female κεραμεύς (= ‘pot- ter’, in SB I 31; cf. below), a female λαχανοπώλης (= ‘seller of vegetables’, in BGU I 22.4, cf. l. 9), a female οἰνέμπορος (= ‘wine- merchant’, in P.Stras. I 1.3),6 while on top of that he produces at- testations of various other relevant terms.7
It is, again, another matter that masc. professions in -ος may be provided with a fem. ending in -η, cf. the alternation νεκροτάφος / νεκροτάφη (the DDBDP lists attestations of the latter in M.Chrest.
295 = P.Grenf. II 76.2, P.Bodl. I 169.1 and P.Grenf. II 71.8-9 [all from the Theban Oasis]; add to these three texts P.Grenf. II 75 = C.Pap.Graec. I 40.1, 22).8Unfortunately, there is no simple way to check how frequently this alternation (or similar alternations) oc- curs in Greek.
Finally, new sources may always produce new relevant terms.
Particularly illustrative for this statement is the case of two still un- published census returns from the Dakhleh Oasis, written in A.D.
132 and 146, in which women are labelled κλωθ( ), i.e. they are
6 Note that here the term has been abbreviated as οἰν( ) and that other resolutions are conceivable.
7 See the following pages and terms in Drexhage, «Feminine Berufsbezeichnungen», 72: γεώργισσα = ‘female peasant’ (in P.Batav. 3.31); 73: ποιμένισσα = ‘herdswo- man’ (in BGU VI 1289.11) and αὐλητρίς = ‘flute-girl’ (for attestations, cf. CPR XIII, p. 56f.); 74: κορσᾶς = ‘female barber’ (in BGU I 9.iv.15); 76: ἐλαιούργισσα = ‘fe- male manufacturer of oil’ (in SB XIV 11578.5), ὀρβαροπωλίς = ‘female vetch-sel- ler’, (in P.Apoll. 79.6; term abbreviated and this supplement not recorded in the BL), and σιλιγνιάρια = ‘female baker’ (in SB XVI 12281.1), and 77: πλουμάρισσα =
‘female stitcher of embroidery’ (in P.Aberd. 59.5).
8 Here the original Grenfell-papyrus has νεκροταφη, ‘corrected’ in C.Pap.Graec. to νεκροταφη<ς> on the basis of the argument that one is dealing here with a iotacistic misspelling of a regular form νεκροταφίς. The so-called ‘regular’ form is based on the entry in LSJ, s.v. νεκροταφίς, citing for this word only P.Grenf. II 76,2. In fact, here one finds the genitive of νεκροτάφη spelled as νεκροταφις. None of these terms is listed in Ruffing’s catalogue of professions.
performing some form of spinning activity. Unfortunately, no rele- vant term for such women is already attested in Greek and we sim- ply cannot tell how one should resolve the abbreviation. Our best options seem to be *κλώθ(ισσα), *κλωθ(ίστρια), οr κλώθ(ουσα) (partic.praes.), but in the end these resolutions are only specula- tions.
Even so, the bulk of the terms listed above can be analyzed by a study of the word endings and in particular feminine suffixes, cf. the suffixes in:9
(1) in -πωλις: ἁλό-, ἀλφιτό-, ἐλαιό-, ζυτό-, ἱματιό-, λαχανό-, λιβανωτό-, μελιτό-, μυρό-, ξυλό-, ὀρβαρο-/ὀρβιό-, παντό-, πορφυρό-, σησαμό-, στυππιό-, τυρόπωλις;
(2) in -πώλισσα: ἀσπρο-, γρυτο-, ἐλαιο-, καθαρο-, κυαμο- and μυροπώλισσα;
(3) in -πράτισσα: ἀνθυλο- and ταριχοπράτισσα.
All of these words belong to the sphere of commerce, in other words: one is dealing with women who are selling a specific com- modity like salt, pickles or clothing or who are running some form of ‘general shop’ (cf. the terms γρυτοπώλισσα and παντόπωλις).
(4) Other terms in -ισσα mentioned by Ruffing and Drexhage,
«Feminine Berufsbezeichnungen», are:
ἀλέτισσα / ἀλετρίς Woman grinding corn (PSI VII 838.8) βάφισσα Female dyer (SB I 1957)
γεώργισσα Female farmer (P.Batav. 3.31)
γνάφισσα Female fuller (P.Cair.Goodsp. 30.xxix.2,24;
P.Cair.Mich. 359.1393; P.Mich. IV.1 223.2900, 225.2440; P.Oxy. XXIV 2425.17, L 3598.8) ἐλαιούργισσα Female producer of oil (SB XIV 11578.5) μαγ(ε)ίρισσα Female cook (P.Oxy. XXVII 2480.237 + BL
IX 196)
πλουμάρισσα Female embroiderer (P. Aberd. 59.7) ποιμένισσα Shepherdess (BGU VI 1289.11)
9 I have also profited from consulting D. Hagedorn’s Konträrindex (see http://www.
zaw.uni-heidelberg.de/hps/pap/WL/Kontr.pdf) for finding a few terms not listed in Ruffing’s catalogue.
ταρσικάρισσα Female producer of ‘Tarsian’ textile (only in P.Coll.Youtie II 95.7, but reading incorrect, cf. above, fn. 1))
Moreover, the Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der griechischen Sprache by P. Kretschmer & E. Locker (Göttingen 19632: 71) men- tions the following terms in -ισσα which are also relevant for the subject of female professions:
φυλάκισσα Guards-woman (from LXX Ca.1.6) βαλάνισσα Female bath attendant (from AP 5.81) κούρισσα Female hairdresser (from EM 528.4) πωμαρίτισσα Female fruiterer (from SPP VIII 809.1) καλλιγράφισσα Female calligraphist (from SEG 7:196, Beirut,
5/6 cent.).
(5) Then, there appear various words in -ις:
αὐλητρίς Flute-girl (cf. CPR XIII, p. 56f.)
καπηλίς Female tavern-keeper (P.Fay. 12.23, SB XXII 15236.Fr.2r.iii.55, XXIV 15973.4, 17; ) κουρίς Female hairdresser (BGU I 57v.7 , P.Oxy. XII
1489.9)
οἰνοκαπηλίς Female owner of a wine-bar (SB XXIV 16295.3) (ταπιδ)ὑφάντις Female weaver (P.Count 4.193), of carpets
(P.Count 28.32)
τέχνιτις Female slave / crafts-woman (only in inscrip- tions from Delphi)
(6) a substantial number of words in -ια:
ἀκέστρια Seamstress (SEG 18:36.B.3, Athens) γερδία / γερδίαινα Female weaver (passim)
ἠπήτρια Female tailor (P.Mil.Vogl. IV 256.19; P.Oxy.
XIV 1679.5,11; UPZ I 91.16, 93.10
κονδιτάρια Female producer / seller of aromatized wine (in SB XXVI 16490.1-2)
κροταλίστρια Female castanet-dancer (P.Corn. 9.1, P.Oxy.
XXXIV. 2721.6,LXXIV 5015.5-6) ὀρχήστρια Dancing girl (BGU VII 1648.1, et alibi) πλύντρια Washerwoman (P.Oxy. XXIV 2419.9) προπινάρια Female cook (SEG 31:1082, Pessinous,
Galatia)
ῥαφίδεια Female stitcher / embroiderer (Fouilles Delphi II.3 26)
σιλιγνιάρια Female baker (SB XVI 12281.1)
τριμιτάρια Female producer of trimitoi (= garment of drill / ticking, IGOccid.Chr. 153)
χρυσώτρια Female gilder (A. Audollent, Tab.Defix.
69.4)
It is obvious that further search actions, e.g. in the Internet ver- sion of LSJ for words in -’τρια or -τρίς, may yield even more rele- vant terms.
Already the list above, however, allows one to establish that next to their various activities in all kinds of commerce (for which, cf.
above sub 1, 2 and 3), women were active in:10
a) the sphere of food production and consumption, cf. terms like:
ἀλέτισσα / ἀλετρίς Female person grinding corn ἀρτοκόπισσα Female baker
ἐλαιούργισσα/-ουργός Female manufacturer of oil ζυτοποιός (ἡ) Female brewer
κονδιτάρια Female producer / seller of aromatic wine μαγ(ε)ίρισσα Female cook
(οἰνο-)καπηλίς Female owner of a (wine-)bar οἰνέμπορος (ἡ) Female wine-merchant
προπινάρια Female cook
πωμαρίτισσα Female fruiterer σιλιγνιάρια Female baker
10 For this subject, vid. already H.-J. Drexhage, «Feminine Berufsbezeichnungen», 75ff.
b) the textile industry and related activities, cf. terms like:
ἀκέστρια Seamstress
βάφισσα Female dyer
γερδία / γερδίαινα Female weaver γνάφισσα Female fuller
δικτυοπλόκος (ἡ) Female weaver of nets ἠπήτρια Female tailor
πλουμάρισσα Female embroiderer
πλύντρια Washerwoman
ῥαφίδεια Female stitcher / embroiderer σκυτεύτρια Female cobbler
σκυτοτόμος Female leather-worker στεφανηπλόκος Female plaiter of wreaths ταλασιουργός Female wool-spinner
ταρσικάρισσα Female textile worker (term doubtful)
τριμιτάρια Female producer of trimitoi (= garment of drill or ticking)
(ταπιδ)υφάντις Female (carpet-)weaver
ὑφάντρα Female weaver
c) in the sphere of personal (body) care and related services, cf.:
βαλάνισσα Female bath attendant
κορσᾶς Female barber
κουρίς/ κούρισσα Female hairdresser11
νεκροτάφη Female undertaker / embalmer d) in various other activities and services, cf.:
αὐλητρίς Female flute player
11 I have not been able to consult the study of H.J. Drexhage, «Zu den Lebensverhält- nissen der κουρεῖς im römischen und spätantiken Ägypten», in S. G. Winkel, K.
Ruffing und O. Stoll (Hgg.), Pragmata. Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Antike im Gedenken an Harald Winkel (Wiesbaden, 2007; = Philippika. Marburger altertumskundliche Abhandlungen. 17), 16-26.
θησαυροφύλαξ (ἡ) Female treasurer
ἰβιοβοσκός (ἡ) Female keeper of the sacred ibis ἰσιονόμος (ἡ) Female warden of the temple of Isis καλλιγράφισσα Female calligraphist
κροταλίστρια Female castanet-dancer ναύκληρος (ἡ) Female ship owner ὀρχήστρια Dancing girl ποιμένισσα Shepherdess
τέχνιτις Female slave / crafts-woman φυλάκισσα Guards-woman
χρυσώτρια Female gilder
What conclusions may be drawn from this? Already more than 70 years ago, in a dissertation sponsored by Friedrich Oertel,12its author Lea Bringmann remarked on p. 116 that «In den Gewerben die sich mit der Verarbeitung von Holz, Tierhäuten, Metallen, Steinen und Erden befassen, habe ich bis auf die Töpferei für die durch einen Grab- stein aus römischer Zeit eine Handwerkerin bezeugt ist (SB Ι 31: Thaë- sis T. Eros, κεραμεύς, 7 Jahre alt), und vielleicht die Ziegelherstel- lung (P.Dem.Zen. 4; Lieferung von 20 000 Ziegeln von einer Mann und einer Frau) und Glasfabrikation (P.Got. 7: Glasarbeiter) gewerbs- mässig beschäftigte Frauen in Ägypten nirgends angetroffen».
As regards the category of wood (cf. ‘Holz’), female carpenters etc. seem still unattested in Egypt; also for the category of metals (cf. ‘Metalle’), there is no evidence from Egypt featuring female laborers working in this field.13
As far as leather (cf. ‘Tierhäuten’) is concerned, Bringmann’s statement is no longer correct since the publication in 1997 of P.Kellis IV 96, where in ll. 1550-51 we seem to be dealing with a woman Tsenpsais labelled σκυτεύς.14
12Die Frau im ptolemäisch-kaiserlichen Aegypten (Diss. Bonn 1939), Kap. III, 91- 125: «Die Frau im Wirtschaftsleben», esp. § 2 (103-125): «Erwerb aus beruflicher Tätigkeit», a. als Landpächterin; b. als Arbeiterin, 1. landwirtschafliche, 2. gewerbliche:
als selbständig Gewerbe - und Handeltreibende; sonstige private Berufe; als Priesterin.
13In itself one may argue that such an activity, attested already outside Egypt (cf.
above [p. 80] for the term χρυσώτρια = ‘female gilder’, occurring in the Attic inscrip- tion IG III 3 69.4), could have been performed also within Egypt.
14Cf. O.Kellis 96.1n and A. Alcock, «Women Cobblers in a 4th-century Oasis?»,
The three texts adduced by Bringmann for apparently attesting the activity of women in the production of ceramics (‘Töpferei’), mud brick (‘Ziegelherstellung’) and glass (‘Glasfabrikation’), each unique for their individual type of activity, remind us of the well- known dictum ‘unicum ergo dubium’; therefore, they deserve fur- ther scrutiny.
The first text, SB Ι 31, apparently featuring a female κεραμεύς, was re-published in 1988 by E. Bernand in I.Akoris 49. Bernand suggests in his commentary to regard the nominative κεραμεύς as an error (attested elsewhere frequently enough) for the genitive κεραμέως and to combine this with the father’s name.15 This sug- gestion seems all the more attractive, as it allows us to get rid of a case of child labor, i.e. a female potter of only 7 years old.
The second text, P.Dem.Zen. 4 (cf. Dem. BL, vol. I.A, 407-8) concerns the delivery of 20,000 mud bricks by a man and a woman.
There is no clear indication of the precise role of the woman in the production process of these bricks, but it seems well possible that she was, e.g., only counting the bricks produced by her husband.
Therefore, it remains to be seen whether she also took part in the (relatively hard) work of the mud brick production process itself.
Likewise, the third case is also unclear about the precise role of the woman concerned. The text in question, P.Got. 7, ca 250 C.E., from Panopolis (for the date and the provenance, cf. BL III 69, V 36), contains an offer to the town council of Panopolis for providing
Archiv für Papyrusforschung 46 (2000) 50. For other fem. terms for ‘cobbler’, com- pare above, fn. 4, in particular also the term σκυτοτόμος = ‘female leather-worker’, referred to there. Further discussion of the phenomenon of ‘woman cobblers’
(σκυτεῖς) is lacking in K. Ruffing’s study referred to on p. 79, or in S. Russo, Le Calzature nei papiri di età Greco-Romana, Firenze 2004 (= Studi e Testi di Pa- pirologia, N.S. 2) 208-213. In fact, it does not seem regular Greek to use a word end- ing in -εύς for some professional or occupational activity of a woman (cf. also below for the removal of a female κεραμεύς from our documentation). I should like to ex- press here my gratitude to my colleagues I. Sluiter for referring me to the passage in Aeschylus’ Choephoroi, 760 (here the female (!) τροφός compares her own activity with that of a κναφεύς, respectively a τροφεύς; obviously, this is not a clear-cut at- testation of the combination ἡ + -εύς) and A. van Gemert for referring me to the remark- able word combination μετὰ τῆς γραμματέως in Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazousae 432 (LSJ s.v. γραμματεύς labels this gender transformation ‘a joke’) .
15Now read by Bernand as Π.[ε]ρῶτος.
glass for (i.a.) three local bath houses. The offer was made by three persons who designated themselves as ὑελουργοί = ‘glass produc- ers’, viz. (1) a man Aurelius Horos (second name incompletely pre- served), (2) his son Aurelius Marinos, and (3) a woman Aurelia Sarapodora alias Didyme.16 The precise relationship between the two men and the woman is not indicated. Therefore, it is not certain that Sarapodora was the wife of Horos and the mother of Marinus.
Be that as it may, Sarapodora is labelled ‘astê’.17The precise mean- ing of this term within a Panopolitan context may be a matter of debate,18 but so much is certain that through the use of this label Sarapodora apparently indicated that she did not (wish to) belong to the Panopolitan ‘rank and file’. Given what we have seen thus far about women performing some kind of manual labor and given Sarapodora’s special claim for status, it does not seem likely that in this text she was actively working as a laborer / producer of glass (or even that she assumed the role of an artist / glassblower who applied some form of decoration). Rather, one should accept a scenario in which Sarapodora did the administration for some form of family business, while her partners (husband and son?) were doing the ac- tual work of producing glass in a (hot!) oven. In such a scenario, Sarapodora herself probably was the immediate author of the offer made by a small private firm to the municipality of Panopolis to provide glass windows. For the moment, the burden of proof rests with anyone who wishes to contend that women were involved in the actual production of glass, metals, stones, or similar types of commodity.
16Cf. ll. 2 - 4: παρὰ Αὐρηλ(ίων) Ὥ[ρου(?)] | καὶ υἱοῦ Μαρείνου ἀπὸ Κόπτου πόλεως καὶ Σα̣[ρα]-|ποδώρας τῆς καὶ̣̣ [Δ]ιδύμης, ἀστῆς, ὑελουργῶν). I note that in l. 2 one may resolve the abbreviation Αὐρηλ( ) as Αὐρηλ(ίων), rather than as Αὐρηλ(ίου) (so the ed.princ.), as there is no need to assume that after the year 212 A.D. only Horos would have enjoyed the civitas Romana.
17On this term, cf. D. Delia, Alexandrian Citizenship During the Roman Princi- pate (Atlanta, GA 1990; = American Classical Studies 23) 13-21, 27-28 and 45-46;
surprisingly, the name of Sarapodora is lacking in Delia’s Appendix I, «List of Astai and Astoi in Roman Egypt» (127-31).
18Was Sarapodora (a) a woman who lived in Panopolis while enjoying citizenship of Alexandria or another Greek city in Egypt (e.g. Antinoopolis), or (2) did the term refer to her status within Panopolis?
